I was pregnant at the time, lucky me, so I didn’t have to do the heavy lifting.

Feeling my sadness, my husband took me out for a surprise outing to the culinary institute. He knew how hard this was on me and he wanted to do something fun as a diversion. I remember because he announced that he was taking me for a surprise outing and I cried because I didn’t have shoes that fit my swollen feet.

Now, here I am, letting go of my children’s childhood home, where I brought them as babies.

After moving to California, we decided to rent our home until we sold it. In five days, this will be someone else’s, with their own special memories. Arriving with just my husband and my oldest, I walked inside and looked around. Taking a few deep breaths, I wondered how I could take apart something that was a part of me, how I could let it go. I looked down and remembered my swollen feet. Just as I had let go of my own childhood home, it was time to move on.

My children will eventually have their own families. Bittersweet, I put my head down on the kitchen counter and began to cry. I wanted to keep my children young forever. I wanted to freeze what was in this home, but I couldn’t. My husband and my daughter enveloped me with a warm embrace.

“Don’t worry mom, it’s just rented,” my daughter said.

In my heart I knew it wasn’t because my house was rented. It was because my babies were growing up and going their own way. This would be a new chapter and the old chapter would never be the same.

“I know you're sad, but I want you to also know that when I bring up my children and create memories, I always thought I would learn through you and your mistakes. However I don’t know if I can do that, because there aren’t any I can think of. All I can think is that when I raise my children and create my own memories, I want to be just like you and dad.”

And like that, the crying stopped. I raised my head and looked at her and knew that whether I was in this house or not, the memories would live on… long after the "For Sale" sign would be taken down.